Author

Chrissy Jenkins

Capitula/heads

Radiate; involucres hemispheric, 3–5 mm diam.; phyllaries persistent, ca. 8–12, 2–3 seriate, llanceolate to linear, subequal, thin-herbaceous, spreading in fruit; pubescent.

Disc florets 15–30+, bisexual, fertile; corollas white or whitish, tubes much shorter than ampliate, cylindric throats, lobes 4–5, ± deltate.

Common Name(s)

False daisy

Disk Flowers

Disc florets about 15–30, bisexual, fertile; corollas whitish, ca. 1.5 mm, tubes much shorter than the throats, lobes 4–5, ± deltate; anther collars dark purplish.

Ecology

Weedy in open, wet habitats.

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Family

ASTERACEAE/COMPOSITAE, sunflower family

Fruit

Achenes (Cypselae) 1.8-2.5 mm long, obconic in outline, surfaces rugose with corky, warty tubercles, 3-4 angled or flattened; pubescent with small hairs apically; heads of achenes are green and button like.

Leaves

Cauline, opposite, elliptic to lanceolate; either without or with short petioles, blades slightly thickened, bases wedge-shaped, margins serrate with widely spaced teeth or nearly entire, 2–10 cm × 4–30+ mm, pubescent with short, appressed hairs on both surfaces.

Plant and Stem Features

Annual or perennial in warm regions; stems prostrate or erect, branched at base and/or distally, to 10-50 cm tall, may root at lower nodes; p ubescent with antrose, straight, white hairs.

Ray Flowers

Ray florets 20–40 mostly in 2–3 series, pistillate, fertile; corollas linear, whitish, 1-2 mm long.

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References

Godfrey, R. K. and Jean W. Wooten. 1981. Aquatic and Wetland Plants ofSoutheastern United States: Dicotyledons. 872-874. The University of Georgia Press, Athens.

Strother, J. L. 2006. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Eds.), Flora of North America. vol 21, pp. 128-129. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford.

USDA, NRCS. 2006. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 6 December 2006). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Synonyms

Verbesina prostrata Linnaeus, Eclipta alba (Linnaeus) Hasskarl